Iloilo gets its first international hotel, finally

Any conversation about the country’s most dynamic and competitive cities will invariably include Iloilo. The capital city of Iloilo province has ranked in the top 10 in the National Competitive Council (NCC)’s list of most competitive cities in recent years. The number of businesses registered in the city also rose in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period last year — 11,194 compared to 10,000.

The brisk business and investment climate in Iloilo is apparent on the short drive into town from its modern international airport. It's hard to miss the gigantic shopping malls, business parks and brand new commercial and residential developments making up the city skyline.

And the one thing Iloilo needed to cement its position as a city on-the-rise — the presence of an international hotel — has finally been realized with Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo opening this month.

Located at Megaworld’s Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao, the 326-room hotel opened to guests on May 1, but was officially launched during a grand event attended by Manila-based officials and guests on Wednesday, May 9.

According to Bruce Winton, cluster general manager for Marriott Manila, the opening of the Courtyard by Marriott is a big deal because it’s the first international hotel not just in the city, but in the entire Western Visayas region.

“We have a history in the Philippines,” Winton said. “If you go back 20 years, the Cebu City Marriott was only the 11th hotel that we opened in Asia in 1997, and it was the first international hotel in Cebu City. That hotel was so successful, primarily in building Marriott’s brand reputation in the Philippines. And so now we see that happening all over again in Iloilo. We’re the first on the ground, with a fantastic development and investment here. And it’s really going to add a lot of value to the local community.”

“It’s creating jobs. [Marriott is] one of the Fortune 500 companies, one of the world’s globally preferred employers. And it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Winton added.

Besides Winton, the grand launch of the Courtyard by Marriott was attended by Victor Clavell, area vice president for Asia Pacific of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company; Courtyard Iloilo general manager Cleofe Albiso, Iloilo City Mayor Jose Espinosa III, Megaworld Senior Vice President Kevin Tan and Travellers International Hotel Group president Kingson Sian.

The P1.5-billion, 15-storey hotel is only the second hotel property located in Megaworld’s Iloilo Business Park, after the Andrew Tan-owned Richmonde Hotel opened in 2015.

It features amenities for business and leisure travelers such as a swimming pool, fitness center, function rooms and a business library.

Although the Courtyard is a different brand under the Marriott group, travelers familiar with the Marriott Hotel in Manila will find that the Iloilo property shares a similar aesthetic with its sister hotel.

“I’m not an interior designer, but we do like the more minimalistic, tone-on-tone palette,” Winton, who is also the GM of Marriott Hotel Manila. “Our days of flashy colors are kind of gone. Now it’s more subdued, elegant, with a hint of color here and there. The space is different, the functionality is different from the Marriott (Manila) but it has that same interior design feel.”

Winton said they expect a mix of guests profiles at the hotel.

“A lot of the Marriott brands are known as corporate hotels,” he said. “So you have a fair share of corporate customers—from the BPOs, consumer banking, pharmaceuticals, banking industries. These are quite prominent in Iloilo. We have leisure customers, both locally, and staycationers and balikbayans, as well as returning OFWs who want to treat their families and bring them away for the weekend.”

Winton added that they also expect to get a lot of the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) guests, especially with the hotel being literally right next door to the Iloilo Business Park Convention Center.

“We were able to open the hotel with 144 rooms on the very first day, which is amazing,” he said.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, a pool party attended by prominent personalities from Iloilo and Manila followed in the evening. The next day, guests were toured around Iloilo and nearby Guimaras island to see some of the region’s most tourist-friendly locations. Hotel staff said they can assist guests with similar travel and tour arrangements.

As for the Marriott group, Winton said that after the opening of Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo, more things are in store for one of the world’s largest hospitality brands in the Philippines.

“We’re going to open two more hotels this year — a Marriott Hotel in Clark around September or October, and the Sheraton in Manila in November,” he said. “Next year, we should open the Sheraton in Mactan, Cebu, and then we have a Ritz Carlton, the country’s first, in Manila.”

Winton said that after Marriott merged with Starwood, the group now has a total of 31 brands under it. “We have two Westin hotels coming to Manila, and we have a Marriott and a Fairfield coming in Boracay Gateway, which is what we’re calling Caticlan, in Aklan province. So it’s going to be a very busy couple of years for us.” — LA, GMA News